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Bible Lexicons
Old & New Testament Greek Lexical Dictionary
Strong's #782 - ἀσπάζομαι
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ἀσπάζομαι,
aor. ἀσπάσσατο Epigr.Gr. 990.9: —
1. welcome kindly, greet, τινά Hom., etc.: freq. c. dat. modi, δεξιῇ ἠσπάζοντο ἔπεσσί τε μειλιχίοισι Il. 10.542; χερσίν Od. 3.35, al.; ἁδυπνόῳ φωνᾷ Pi. I. 2.25; μεγάλως ἠσπάζοντο αὐτόν received him with great joy, Hdt. 1.122, cf. 3.1; παρὰ τὴν πόσιν φιλοφρόνως ἀ. Id. 2.121. δ'; εὖ νιν ἀσπάσασθε A. Ag. 524: freq. with no modal word, S. OT 596, etc.; esp. as the common form on meeting, Στρεψιάδην ἀσπάζομαι Ar. Nu. 1145, cf. Pl. 1042 (v. Sch.), Pl. Euthd. 273c; αὐτὸν ἠσπάζοντο καὶ ἐδεξιοῦνθ' Ar. Pl. 752; πόρρωθεν ἀ. salute from a distance, Pl. Chrm. 153b; πρόσωθεν αὐτὴν ἁγνὸς ὢν ἀ. I salute her at a respectful distance, i. e. keep away from her, E. Hipp. 102, cf. Pl. R. 499a; ἀ. ταῖς κώπαις, of the saluting of ships, Plu. Ant. 76; ἀ. τινὰ βασιλέα to hail or salute as king, D.H. 4.39: metaph., ἀ. συμφοράν to bid the event welcome, E. Ion 587. take leave of, Id. Tr. 1276; τὰ ὕστατα ἀ. take a last farewell, Lys. 13.39. as a formula in closing letters, Romans 16:22-23, BGU 1079.33 (i A. D.), etc.
2. from the modes of salutation in use, kiss, embrace, Ar. V. 607; ἀ. τοῖς στόμασι Plu. Romans 1:1-32; of dogs, fawn, X. Mem. 2.3.9, Pl. R. 376a; cling fondly to, ἴσον σ' ὡς τεκοῦσ' ἀσπάζομαι E. Ion 1363, cf. X. Cyr. 1.3.2; ἐγὼ ὑμᾶς ἀ. καὶ φιλῶ Pl. Ap. 29d: metaph., φιλεῖν καὶ ἀ. τὸ ἄδικον Id. Lg. 689a.
3. of things, follow eagerly, cleave to, ἀ. τὸ ὅμοιον, οἶνον, Id. Smp. 192a, R. 475a, cf. S.E. M. 11.44; of dogs, ἀ. τὰ ἴχνη X. Cyn. 3.7.
4. ἀ. ὅτι.. to be glad that.., Ar. Pl. 324.
5. c. inf., to be ready to.., εὐωχεῖσθαι Philostr. VA 2.7, cf. 31, VS 2.25.4. (Act. ἀσπάζω in letters (cf. I. C), POxy. 1158.18 (iii A. D.), al., cf. ἀσπάζομαι· ἀσπάζω, Hsch.
ἀσπάζομαι ,
depon.,
[in LXX: Ezekiel 18:7, Judges 18:15 (H7965 H7592), Ezra 5:2, 1 Maccabees 7:29, al.;]
to welcome, greet, salute: c. acc pers., Matthew 5:47, Mark 9:15, Acts 21:7, al.; id. seq. ἐν φιλήματι , Romans 16:16, 1 Corinthians 16:20, 2 Corinthians 13:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:26, 1 Peter 5:14; τ . ἐκκλησίαν (Deiss., BS, 257), Acts 18:22; as term. tech. for conveying greetings at the end of a letter (MM, s.v.), used by an amanuensis (Milligan, NTD, 23), Romans 16:22 (on the aoristic Pres., here and elsewhere, v. M, Pr., 119; Bl., § 56, 4); κατήντησαν . . . ἀσπασάμενοι (on this constr., v. El., § 58, 4; M, Pr., 132, 238), Acts 25:13 (cf. ἀπ -ἀπ -ασπάζομαι ).†
**† ἀπ -ασπάζομαι ,
depon.,
[in LXX: Tob 10:13 א *;]
to take leave of: c. acc: Acts 21:6.†
Copyright © 1922 by G. Abbott-Smith, D.D., D.C.L.. T & T Clarke, London.
The papyri have shown conclusively that this common NT word was the regular term. tech. for conveying the greetings at the end of a letter. Examples are BGU IV. 1079.33f. (A.D. 41) (= Selections, p. 40) ἀσπάζου Διόδωρον μ [ετ᾽ ἄλων (l. ἄλλων ) . . . ἀσπάζου Ἁρποχράτη [ν ], ib. II. 423.18ff. (ii/A.D.) (= Selections, p. 91) ἄσπασαι Καπίτων [α πο ]λλὰ καὶ το [ὺς ] ἀδελφούς [μ ]ου καὶ Σε [ρήνι ]λλαν καὶ το [ὺς ] φίλους [μ ]ου , etc. As showing how much the absence of these greetings was felt, we may quote P Giss I. 78.7 (ii/A.D.) ἡ μικρά μου Ἡραιδ [ο ]ῦς γράφουσα τῶι πατρὶ ἐμὲ ο ̣ὐκ ἀσ ̣π ̣άζεται κ [α ]ι ̣̣ διὰ τί οὐκ ο ̣ι ̣͂̔δα , and P Grenf I. 53.8 ff. (iv/A.D.) Ἀλ ̣λ ̣οῦς πολλά σοι ἀπειλ (εῖ ), ἐπὶ γὰρ πολλάκις γράψας καὶ πάντας ἀσπασάμενος αὐτὴν μόνον οὐκ ἠσπάσου . The use of the 1st pers. ἀσπάζομαι by Tertius in Romans 16:21, the only ex. of this exact formula in the NT, may be paralleled from P Oxy VII. 1067.25 (iii/A.D.) where to a letter from a certain Helene to her brother, their father Alexander adds the postscript—κἀγὼ Ἀλέξανδρος ὁ π [α ]τὴρ ὑμῶν ἀσπάζομαι ὑμᾶς πολλά . (As there is no change of hand, both Helene and her father would seem to have employed an amanuensis : see the editor’s note). When several persons are included in a greeting, the phrase κατ᾽ ὄνομα often occurs (as in 3 Jn.15) e.g. BGU I. 276.25 f. (ii/iii A.D.) ἀσπάζομαι ὑμᾶς πάντες κατ᾽ ὄνομ (α ), καὶ Ὠριγ [έ ]νης ὑμᾶς ἀσπάζεται πάντες , P Oxy III. 533.27f. (ii/iii A.D.) ἀσπάσασθε τὸν μεικρὸν Σερῆνον καὶ Κοπρέα καὶ το [ὺ ]ς ἡμῶν πάντας κατ᾽ ὄνομα . Add P Fay 118.25 (A.D. 110) ἀσπάζου τοὺς φιλοῦντές σε πάντες πρὸς ἀλήθιαν (cf. 2 John 1:1, 3 John 1:1) and the Christian Psenosiris letter P Grenf II. 73.4 ff. (late iii/A.D.) (= Selections, p. 117) where immediately after the address we find πρὸ τῶν ὅλων πολλά σε ἀσπάζομαι καὶ τοὺς παρὰ σοὶ πάντας ἀδελφοὺς ἐν Θ (ε )ῷ .
For ἀ . = ";pay one’s respects to,"; as in Acts 25:13, see BGU I. 376i. 3 (A.D. 171) ἠσπάσατ ̣ο ̣ τὸν λαμπρότατον ἡγ [εμό ]να , and ib. 248.12 (ii/A.D.) θεῶν δὲ βουλομένων πάν [τ ]ως μετὰ τὰ Σουχεῖα σὲ ἀσπάσομαι (cited by Deissmann, BS p. 257), and from the inscriptions OGIS 219.43 (iii/B.C.) ἀσπασάμενοι αὐτὸν παρὰ τ [οῦ δήμου ], Syll 318.41 (B.C. 118) a deputation is sent οἵτινες πορευθέντες πρὸς αὐτὸν καὶ ἀσπασάμενοι παρὰ τῆς πόλεως καὶ συνχαρέντες ἐπὶ τῶι ὑγιαίνειν αὐτόν τε καὶ τὸ στρατόπεδον κτλ .
Copyright © 1914, 1929, 1930 by James Hope Moulton and George Milligan. Hodder and Stoughton, London.
Derivative Copyright © 2015 by Allan Loder.
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